Interim CR Report 2010

Kick-starting their careers with placements in our 2010 traineeship program are 182 young Indigenous Australians.

Since the programs’ inception in 2002, 446 Indigenous youth have undertaken a traineeship.

Two-thirds of our Indigenous trainees complete the program, exceeding the non-trade sector average of one in three, and on par with completion rates for non-indigenous workers*.

Among the 63% of trainees who have gone on to full time employment with us is Benson Saulo (pictured), who started as a school based trainee in our Tamworth branch in New South Wales in 2003 and who is now a Business Analyst, based at our headquarters in Melbourne.

“I was in Tamworth a couple of weeks ago and I ran into my primary school principal who I hadn’t seen for years. He and his wife were really happy to see where I had taken my career,” Benson said.

“When I had first started in the traineeship my primary school used me as an example to the students about what opportunities are out there.”

“Being able to interact with clients and with the general community is great for building confidence, you might be walking down the street wearing your uniform, and you’ll have customers come up and say ‘hi’.”

Traineeships span one to two years, providing practical banking and workplace experience, developing participants’ capabilities and confidence to broaden their future employment or academic aspirations and opportunities.

We are continually seeking to improve our retention rates and have identified candidate selection processes, leadership of the branch managers, links to the community and the support provided by Career Development Managers as the key success factors in successful completion of the program.

Interview and screening processes include a voluntary week of work experience before the traineeship commences, helping the prospective trainees to decide if the program is right for them.

Career Development Managers work with trainees and their Line Managers to guide their progression, develop their workplace skills and competencies and identify education and career goals. Their focus is to ensure we transition as many graduating trainees as possible into permanent roles, taking into account their performance, aspirations and ability to transfer within our network.

These enhancements are paying off with retention rates for those in our 2009 and 2010 trainee intake currently at 75%.